Finally an additional BOG service with high quality making it more difficult for VH. And BTW: The CCS-BOG flight was reduced to 6xweekly about 3 months ago. But I doubt that the VH problem is service related rather than image related. If the flight is on time there is nothing to be said against the service at all. I just wonder why LAN got those traffic rights. I know there is/was an open skies during "Andean Community" times. But now that Venezuela has left this organisation ?

Very nice new website. Although flight booking does not work with Firefox browser.... Santa Barbara is on a good track. I just hope that they will not be affected by the governments expropriation madness.

I had the "pleasure" to see the Iran Air counters (jointly with Conviasa) yesterday as well.
Looks like this will be an IR/V0 codeshare. V0 is the General Sales Agent for IR in CCS and IR is the GSA for Vo in THR.

Aeropostal is really having a bad time. Maracaibo frequencies cut from 6xdaily to 2, Barcelona cut to 1 daily....what is next ? The following 14 days BOG is operated via MDE......? I am not surprised that they have problems "keeping up their obligations". The government (INAC) is making live more and more difficult every day.
I know that this is also Aeropostal s fault. But we should not forget the way things are handled by INAC. In other countries it's up to the passenger to decide if he avoids a shitty airline. Here it is up to the government to punish bad service, making things even worse.
The nationalization is still a rumor. There is nothing definite (yet). But if things go on like this it is only a matter of time. And then it doesn't need a nationalization. VH will fold and Conviasa can take over the (unqualified) staff and the routes...even cheaper...and easier.
But still...Aeropostal seems to keep on fighting and is just opening new sales representations all over Europe to prepare their MAD-CCS codeshares with codeshares LHR-MAD, FRA-MAD, CDG-MAD, AMS-MAD.

Quoting Charvett (Reply 44):Politics apart... as I expressed on previous posts, we need to refurbish
our air transport industry. Improvements had been made...
but we need to follow up. Again, why to have five or six small inefficient
airlines? Why not to combine into two or three larger, strong and
efficient companies? One company that covers main national and
international routes, one that covers domestic and other that
covers social and feeder routes through the country. I made a thesis
upon that during my college years; as family and friends helped
me because of a wide aviation background here.

I totally agree. And we had this discussion here about 2 years ago. Less airlines would be good.
But: The government needs to improve the conditions within aviation:
- no more price regulations to guarantee a real competition
- less taxes on new aircraft (lease & purchase)
- much less bureaucracy

And then I could imagine the following scenario:
Conviasa: Routes to "underdeveloped" regions
Merge of Santa Barbara and Aeropostal for longhaul and shorthaul as the new flag carrier
Avior used as Regional carrier for this new flag carrier
Hard to say, but all others would not be needed any more.

NEWS:
Avior is planning to start a direct service Porlamar - Miami. This has been discussed with the Governor of Nueva Esparta (mainly Margarita Island) on FITUR fair in Madrid in order to promote tourism.
This means that the intention is to bring more tourists from the US to Margarita. As much as I love this idea, I am in doubt if it will work due to the bad image the country has in the US.
Someone knows if Avior already applied for PMV-MIA rights ?

Having flown AFCCS-CDG yesterday and having seen that huge number of Chinese (around 50) onboard again just like on my last LH flight we can get an impression about how many "political" passengers they are able to produce. They were all wearing "Minfra" (Ministry of infrastructure) Poloshirts.
The other group could be people from the tractor and car producing joint venture starting to produce this phantastic car, the "Saman":

And then I could imagine a small number of Iranian tourists wanting to come to Venezuela. But that's it. And BTW, the flight is not bookable from DAM (yet)

Ok that is a wise idea to set up business. So i am seeing this route to be primarily a business route. The article didn't mention airplane type. Any idea which airplane would be used? They have SPs don't they?

Quoting Chiguire (Thread starter):But I doubt that the VH problem is service related rather than image related. If the flight is on time there is nothing to be said against the service at all.

Just for the record, Aeropostal registered an on-time performance of 57% on its flights to Colombia during Nov06. A pretty bad record, one of the lowest between all airlines operating international flights out of Colombia.

just great, I am booked next friday to MDE and wednesday back to CCS, any info how is the schedule on the MDE-CCS run....?

Quoting Chiguire (Reply 5):Having flown AFCCS-CDG yesterday and having seen that huge number of Chinese (around 50) onboard again just like on my last LH flight we can get an impression about how many "political" passengers they are able to produce. They were all wearing "Minfra" (Ministry of infrastructure) Poloshirts.

well the chinese comunity is increasing day by day in Venezuela, was today at the ONIDEX and I think after the Colombians the Chinese friends were the second biggest group...

Both videos are horrible examples of the new way of journalism in the country. It could also be Cuban television.
The sad end of VIASA is being used by the government media for cheap propaganda in order to justify the current expropriations.
The facts seem mainly political. "Neoliberalism" is maybe the most used word. General facts are incredibly wrong or turned around. To say Iberia scraped VIASA aircraft and showing pictures of accidented aircraft in Buenos Aires as well as pics of DC10 finally scrapped in the last years is ridiculous.
It clearly shows that the government media is starting to fool the people of Venezuela. These videos are the best example - it's a shame !

Referring to Chiguire's reply #13... thank's for the note. You are better informed of the current
issues today better than me; as I don't live in Venezuela anymore. How about a combination
of public and private entities. Let's say that some sort of recomendations from INAC, ICAO,
FAA, IATA plus a couple of professional and serious aviation consultants. What do you think?

Quoting Charvett (Reply 17):You are better informed of the current
issues today better than me; as I don't live in Venezuela anymore

I don't live in Venezuela either.....

Quoting Charvett (Reply 17):How about a combination
of public and private entities. Let's say that some sort of recomendations from INAC, ICAO,
FAA, IATA plus a couple of professional and serious aviation consultants. What do you think?

Public entities set up basic rules of the game, e.g safety and private companies operate airlines - yes. It is not up to the state to:
- regulate and set up fares (as it is the case in Venezuela)
- regulate frequencies
- operate airlines, handling agents, airports
- regulate fare rules
The state needs to set up and monitor:
- ATC
- airline and airport safety
Passengers decide: which airline they fly, according to the usual market aspects e.g. fare/service ratio.

In order to recover the credibility of the airline and improve motivation within the company, the president and mayority shareholder, Nelson Ramiz resigned

His successor will be Erwin Gernie, a 40-year old guy. There are no more informations about him at this moment.

I wish that this is a real change and that it also improves the image of Aeropostal in the public. And I hope that Ramiz is really gone, taking care of his family and money, letting the new guy make his work in saving what he has destroyed.

In order to recover the credibility of the airline and improve motivation within the company, the president and mayority shareholder, Nelson Ramiz resigned

His successor will be Erwin Gernie, a 40-year old guy. There are no more informations about him at this moment.

I wish that this is a real change and that it also improves the image of Aeropostal in the public. And I hope that Ramiz is really gone, taking care of his family and money, letting the new guy make his work in saving what he has destroyed.

intresting! is Erwin /german or swiss ???

anyway Aeropostal has a long way..... will tomorrow travel with them to MDE, after checking the last days I already calculated at least 1 hour delay....

5. Good customer service, from ground staff to flight attendants. This is something so hard to understand for airlines' staff, yet so easy and so cheap to put in practice. In my opinion, it would make a big difference.

Sounds easy..but they have no money ! Even the smallest investment turns out to be a problem. What they need is fresh money from an investor. But at this times of course nobody is willing to invest in a company that might be expropriated tomorrow....

Quoting B757200 (Reply 25):Wasn't Lufthansa Consulting assisting VH last year? What was the result (if any)?

Yes, they where there or maybe are still there. Costs of around 1 million US$ are now being negotiated. Maybe LH would have wanted to take some shares instead...but with this situation....
The result for the company is minimal. Except more bureaucracy nothing favorable for the passengers was achieved.

The DC9 shouldn't be there any more now according to the plans. But due to the financial situation they stayed. At least, due to the capacity reduction (BOG/MAR/BLA) we see some MDs on domestic routes. But, as far as I know, the plan to replace the DC9s is still there - even to add more, newer aircraft than the MDs. If you remember there was already a B757 announced for the MIA operations. Finally this plane was never taken up. (due to financial reasons)

Quoting B757200 (Reply 25):5. Good customer service, from ground staff to flight attendants. This is something so hard to understand for airlines' staff, yet so easy and so cheap to put in practice. In my opinion, it would make a big difference.

This sounds easy as well. But these people are human. And if you are pissed off by your boss, the company you are working for and the whole situation, you maybe don't want to smile the whole day. All they need is some motivation. May be this changes with the new guy....but I doubt.

Yes ! Although I don't consider this problem to be as big as always discussed here, it is the easiest thing of all. Due to capacity reductions there are so many planes and people around that this situation could be improved. Although, again, I must say that I seem to be lucky and on my last flights I had almost no delays and also nice experiences with the staff.

After all, knowing some backgrounds, I would consider VH as a nice investment for an airline like LH for example. If the network could be expanded a bit it would be the perfect local partner for feeding the longhaul services.

Quoting Chiguire (Reply 26):After all, knowing some backgrounds, I would consider VH as a nice investment for an airline like LH for example. If the network could be expanded a bit it would be the perfect local partner for feeding the longhaul services.

Fat chance. No international company in its right mind is going to touch an investment in venezuela until the door has hit Hugo Baby in the rear end on his way out. If!

It would be commercial lunacy to invest in any venture in Venezuela right now.

As some may know, during these days two Venezuelan aircrafts are carrying stranded Air Madrid passengers from Ecuador to Spain, with a stopover in Sal or in the Canaries. These aircrafts are a Conviasa 737 (reg. YV-100T) and the 707 of the Venezuelan Air Forces, with reg. 8747. Nice to see them now regularly here in Madrid.

Quoting IberiaA319 (Reply 28):The Venezuelan government is chartering these planes, Ecuador would get these flights almost for free (just a symbolic charge).

Isn't it nice from the Venezuelan government ? For Ecuador it is nice to have such a wealthy country as a friend. A country where everybody is rich, has enough to eat and a country that is safe ? It is good to know, that the Venezuelan oil and tax income that is not needed at all in the own country can be used in such a useful way. I am really proud that we could help.
And I am very sure that there no further intention to influence policy in Ecuador by such measures.

I admit that it would have been hard for some of those passengers from Ecuador to loose all the money they paid for their ticket to Madrid. This is for sure a problem. The Latinamerican countries should maybe think in setting up a kind of solidarity fund where each airline has to pay in a certain amount of the ticket price (maybe 2-3 US$) and that can be used in such cases to transport the stranded passengers.

Quoting Chiguire (Reply 29):Isn't it nice from the Venezuelan government ? For Ecuador it is nice to have such a wealthy country as a friend. A country where everybody is rich, has enough to eat and a country that is safe ? It is good to know, that the Venezuelan oil and tax income that is not needed at all in the own country can be used in such a useful way. I am really proud that we could help.
And I am very sure that there no further intention to influence policy in Ecuador by such measures.

Completely agree with you Chiguire. This clearly shows the evil Empire headed by Mr. Danger that we are winning the battle against them! When we take measures like these, we hurt the empire where it hurts! Long live socialism. I still can't believe how rich my country is... middle class is about 85% of the population!!

That population is now demanding extended holidays abroad thus we now have increased air traffic in Venezuelan by 856%. CCS has collapsed and La Carlota was opened for regional flights. Thanks to that, Venezuela holds the largest orders for 787s, A350s and A380. I can't imagine Venezuela before Chavez when we used to have 80% poverty and a few airlines with DC9s that flew as far as SDQ with their own planes!

Quoting Luisde8cd (Reply 30):That population is now demanding extended holidays abroad thus we now have increased air traffic in Venezuelan by 856%. CCS has collapsed and La Carlota was opened for regional flights. Thanks to that, Venezuela holds the largest orders for 787s, A350s and A380. I can't imagine Venezuela before Chavez when we used to have 80% poverty and a few airlines with DC9s that flew as far as SDQ with their own planes!

Todays News say that there will be a Conviasa service between Caracas and Dominica ! The honorable president of the United Bolivarian States announced that on a visit to Dominica.
As much as I love this tropical island, but the volume on such a flight is maybe even less than on the CCS-THR service. I just hope that he (the elected King) will soon announce air service to Libya and Zimbabwe. It is such a shame that all those passengers need to fly via Europe.

Quoting Chiguire (Reply 2):As much as I love this idea, I am in doubt if it will work due to the bad image the country has in the US.

You have to remember that due to the huge influence of South American culture in South Florida, South Floridians in general do go on vacation in many of South America's biggest tourist vacations that are largely ignored by the rest of the US. Places like Cartagena, Punta del Este, Salvador da Bahia, etc. are popular destinations for Miamians. It has potential at 2-3x a week.

After starting 4 daily CCS-MAR with B737, Venezolana (RAVSA) will now start service to Porlamar (PMV) 2xdaily and Cumaná (CUM). Unfortunately I can't see the aircraft they will use. But probably it will be the J41. I can not imagine that the passengers will accept flying a turbprop to PMV in competition to about 15 daily jet-services.

When I was living in Guatemala in the 1990s I recall that there was service to Venezuela on an airline called, Servensa. I am not sure of the exact name/spelling. Can anyone tell me what has happened to them? Thanks.

Quoting Chiguire (Reply 38):I can not imagine that the passengers will accept flying a turbprop to PMV in competition to about 15 daily jet-services

I agree and have always wondered how Avior manages to fill their Beech, at least the few times I've been stuck with no option but Avior PMVCCS very early morning I yearn for a Dc9-30, would seem like an A380 in comparison to that Beechcraft--too long for my tastes in a loud cramped turboprop.

Quoting MIAMIx707 (Reply 44):Hey do you guys think with Chavez in there the potential for Venezuela to other US destinations like MCO will be more or less than before? I suspect less. What do you guys think?

I would say the potential is the same. The average income has increased significantly in the past years so that more and more people will be able to travel e.g. to MCO. The only question is, if some day they will impose travel restrictions to Venezuelan citizens for travelling abroad. This would definitely any plans for new flights as well as most existing services.

But the point might also be a limitation in bilateral traffic rights. e.g. Spirit is now waiting for their FLL-CCS rights since months as the INAC hat not yet approved this service.

I was taxiing out for take off on a private flight to go back to Charallave and fortunately was on the cockpit listening to all ATC conversations. By then, a Venezolana 732 landed and, as it exit the runway, said the following through the radios: "Vene... CONVIASA (flight number) deja pista libre", then the tower replied: "Conviasa (flight number) contact ground".

I refused to believe that Venezolana was having a flight for Conviasa, so turned my radio to the Ground frequency, and still, they had the callsign for Conviasa.

After I saw this, I wondered about the INAC punishment to Aserca and Aeropostal of removing their flights to MAR and BLA. As a matter of fact, these routes were assigned to Venezolana, a topic that has been discussed here in the past leaving everyone with doubts...

So, any words on this?

To end with the PMV part, I'm very glad to say that the airport has completed it's outside terminal remodelation. It does look pretty good. That picture that Chiguire showed makes you see it as it is right now. The airport is relly improving, I'm very happy to see it happening.

Quoting 797 (Reply 47):I refused to believe that Venezolana was having a flight for Conviasa, so turned my radio to the Ground frequency, and still, they had the callsign for Conviasa.

One thing I can imagine is that this flight was operated by Venezolana for Conviasa that day. Venezolana is only operating 4 daily MAR flights, most of them in the afternoon. So maybe Conviasa was short of aircraft (maintenance ?) and Venezolana operated it for them ?

Quoting 797 (Reply 47):To end with the PMV part, I'm very glad to say that the airport has completed it's outside terminal remodelation. It does look pretty good. That picture that Chiguire showed makes you see it as it is right now. The airport is relly improving, I'm very happy to see it happening.

Yes, it has improved a bit. But what I am missing is the remodelation of the restaurant area (throw out these Chinese Pizza, Arepa and Chicken sweetsour foodplaza !) and the whole first floor ! And: where is the announced construction of the 4 airbridges ? The model in the departure hall is away and the paintings outside as well.

Does someone know if the GNE (Gobernacion Nueva Esparta) repossessed the airport from Unique ADC ?

Quoting 797 (Reply 47):On Thursday 15th, I saw a pretty rare visitor to the island. Air Italy with a white 763. I don't know where it came from, but it was pretty loaded. Any knowledge on this flight?

Quoting Chiguire (Reply 46):Today there is a report in "El Universal" that TAM Mercosur wants to start flight from ASU via GRU to CCS this year. Unfortunately nothing is said about the frequencies and the aircraft type.

I think TAM Mercosur itself is operating the F100 only. So I guess the point is feeding ASU-GRU and then it would be up to TAM itself to fly GRU-CCS. Are there any news from TAM side ?

would be great to have other flight to GRU, but I have my doubt there is much market into ASU...